


A Question of Time

by holyfool



Category: Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Genre: F/M, the austin powers au that no one asked for
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-29 07:13:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19825138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/holyfool/pseuds/holyfool
Summary: The Emperor and his legitimate heirs have been slaughtered by the Mythic Dawn. Tamriel's only chance at survival is his bastard son, whose life has been frozen in a magically suspended state for twelve years as a precautionary measure against his own foolishness.What's a charming young mage with a penchant for hedonism to do after waking up to such news?Find some more trouble to get into, of course.





	A Question of Time

You’d sworn not to meddle. Let the young man learn from the school of hard knocks, stake out his own path, live in blissful ignorance of his lineage so long as your trueborn sons drew breath. Grant him to right to carry on none the wiser for the rest of his years on Nirn believing himself the son of a farmer.

But then came the rebellion, then came the thirst for more beyond more. Then came the affairs of Daedric princes, the belligerence, the thrill-seeking. How long until he threw it away for the sake of debauchery? How far would he go for knowledge and power? How much pain for pleasure?

Reckless self-endangerment-- you’d received reports, sightings of him from your eyes and ears, increasing in frequency as time marched onwards. You’d brushed off Jauffre’s insistence to intervene, the instinct in your marrow pleading otherwise allthewhile. He was growing, learning, maturing, you'd hoped. Give him the benefit of the doubt, and sooner or later he'd realize it was time to pull the reins... right? 

It took this long to give in to it, and thank the Nine, you’d nearly been too late.

\---

You hadn’t paid a visit to Cloud Ruler in decades, but it seemed as through time left it untouched; the same could not be said for the Grandmaster sat adjacent to you. Lines began to dent his forehead even at rest, the alarm of the evening undoubtedly speeding the process along quicker than need be.

“He was like this, Your Majesty. Face-up, in a pool of blood, not all his own. But breathing. Not far off we found his companions... they hadn’t fared as well, unfortunately.” Jauffre’s voice is hoarse with the exhaustion, weak. “If he hadn’t been found in time...”

“This should be a lesson to him.”

“In a perfect world, perhaps, but he’s a stubborn lad. His persistence is his greatest boon, but could very well be his downfall on the other side of the coin. I know that you’re tired of me insisting, but are you absolutely sure this is a mistake we can afford to make again?”

You steeple your hands, elbows resting on the table. Your glance drops to the young man on the bedroll, to the shallow rise and fall of his chest. Fragile. Irresponsible. _Tamriel’s last hope_ , your dreams taunted _._

A risk too great to gamble on.

“Do what you must, then.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya! I'm martinsbong/downtomylastseptim on the blue site. Usually I post unfinished snippets and blurbs of ideas there, but I'm really down to actually continue this one properly, thus here we are on Ao3.  
> Rating may escalate, I will give a heads up beforehand though.


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